Epigenetic transformation: you are what your grandparents ate | Pamela Peeke | TEDxLowerEastSide

Dr. Peeke is an internationally renowned physician, scientist, expert and speaker in integrative medicine. Acclaimed as one of America's top physicians, Dr. Peeke is a Pew Foundation Scholar in Nutrition and Metabolism, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland and Fellow of the American College of Physicians. She was the first senior research fellow at the National Institutes of Health Office of Alternative Medicine, studying the effects of chronic stress on the human body. She is WebMD's lifestyle expert, co-host of RadioMD's HER radio show, and a popular in-studio medical commentator for the national networks and media.

A New York Times bestselling author, Dr. Peeke's latest release, The Hunger Fix, is the first consumer book describing the newly emerging science of food, addiction and epigenetics. Dr. Peeke is founder of the Peeke Performance Center for Healthy Living, guiding people through the mental and physical transformations of their life journeys.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

So the hero's journey
is all about transformation, isn't it?

We're transforming
throughout the entire journey,

whether it's departure,
initiation or return.

You know, it's interesting, in initiation,
which is what I'm talking about,

Joseph Campbell made it very clear:

It's war out there!

It's hell.

And you need to be armed
with everything you can possibly find

to be able to get through it,
day by day, minute by minute,

nanosecond by nanosecond.

Now, the transformation you've heard about
could be mental, psychological, spiritual.

But I'm going to teach you,

I'm going to guide you through
a brand new kind of transformation

based upon a science that's so exciting

that's it's blown the minds
of people like myself,

a physician and a scientist,
and all my colleagues.

And now I'm going to blow your mind.

Are you ready?

(Audience) Yeah!

Have you ever heard of epigenetics?

Raise your hand.

Okay, very good. Excellent.

Have you had your kale today?

Soon, soon, you'll understand
why this is such -

well -

an epigenetic transformation.

A tale of kale.

(Laughter)

Ready?

Okay.

Well,

made it very simple.

First, we start with this:

I was taught, and I'm going
to teach you my journey too,

share it with you,

that you are what you eat.

Have you heard this?

Of course! You are what you eat.

So, you know, out there,
sometimes it works;

well, sometimes it doesn't.

(Laughter)

I try, and I really do.

So, I try to live
a very healthy lifestyle.

There's my armpit picture.

I am a triathlete;

I like to get out there and, you know,
get outdoors at any excuse I can,

no matter what it looks like when I do it.

But I do it. I have fun. I show up.

The same thing goes with the food.

Lots of colors - check! check! check!

They tell me what to do - I do it!

That's exactly what I love to do, right?

Did you do that too?

Of course you did.

Everything was going well,

until something
rather interesting happened.

Well, you see, the holy grail, all along,
was DNA was your destiny,

and that, quite frankly,
genes controlled you.

So, you are what you are, you know?

Whatever you got when you were born,
you're stuck with!

And that's it!

A little proclivity toward obesity,
toward diabetes, heart disease,

ruh roh, you're in trouble.

Right?

What could you do about it?

Well, you kind of just keep remembering,

"Well, I am what I eat.
I try to do the best I can."

But as scientists, we never knew
where any of this was going.

We had some observational studies,
and back and forth.

What was really happening
in that black box?

And then all hell broke out in 2007.

That's how recent it was.

The birth of epigenetics.

Let me tell you how it happens.

I'll bet you think that all great science
happens with strategy,

and we sit down with blueprints
and figure this out right off the bat.

Nah. We're just screwing around in the lab

just trying to figure out
fun things to do.

And then one day,
something wild and crazy happens.

Dr. Randy Jirtle at Duke University

one day was playing around
with some very special mice -

they're called Agouti mice.

Now, Agouti mice have
the Agouti gene, appropriately so.

Now, this gene basically condemns them

to a life of being obese, floppy, yellow -

very important because
that's connected with this gene -

color of the fur,

and they die early
of all the usual suspects:

heart diesease, diabetes and cancer.

Kind of a - not a good life.

Right?

So one day, he was saying, "You know,
I know where this gene's located.

And I also know that there are these
funny little things called methyl donors -

CH3, a little side chain -

that we could, you know,
sometimes play with here,

that might just do something
with this gene ...

I don't know.

Well, what's the worst that can happen?"

So how do we give
these little happy campers,

these Agouti mice, methyl donors?

You guessed it: It's the green stuff.

Mom was right.

So, he fed them all the greens he could
in the form of folate and B vitamins,

a little greens, he kind of
ground them all up,

and said, "Here."

And he fed the mothers
who were going to become pregnant.

And then he sat around, and he thought,
"Well, I wonder what's going to happen."

You see, we scientists
have no personal life,

so we sit around looking at cages,
waiting for mice to be born.

This is what we do on Friday nights.

Right?

So he's sitting there like this
with the whole team,

going, "Okay, let's just
pop one of those little babes out

and see what it looks like."

Son of a gun.

The birth of epigenetics.

Only eating greens, that mother
produced a baby that was lean, brown

and lived forever.

(Laughter)

How cool is that?

(Laughter)

Eating your greens.

Well, needless to say, this was published,

and this absolutely ripped apart
the entire scientific world.

What?!

This is heresy!

DNA is not destiny?

No.

As it turns out, everything you do
with your whole life

is now your destiny.

Everything from eating
to thoughts that you may have

to every single lifestyle habit

is messing with one thing in particular.

And what that is, is

your very gene expression.

This is a picture from my laboratory
at the National Institutes of Health.

These are fat cells - "Know thy enemy."

So -

(Laughter)

This is important -
it's like a therapy thing.

Just keep staring at it,
and maybe it will just go away after -

But there it is.

And you can see
all the way into the nucleus.

Right?

And one of the things we found out was,

wow, I can affect everything
from my fat cell distribution

to how many I have.

I could reverse it.

So if I got born with something
that was a little funky,

I can dampen that down.

Did you know that if you were born

with the most lethal form
of the obesity gene, the FTO gene,

that by doing something
as simple as taking a walk every day,

over the course of six months,
you dampen it by 40 percent.

Add that - add a little kale to it -

(Laughter)

and then what happens?

Wow, you're way over 50 percent.

We're loving it. This is good!
We didn't know this!

Every single thing.

That means, for instance, addiction.

Let's look at that for a moment.

Cigarettes. Like to smoke?

This is your last day.

(Laughter)

Because what happens is
over the course of two to three years,

we have counted over 50,000
different genetic mutations

that come out of this,

variations on your gene expression,

because you smoked.

Your body's saying, "What?
What are you doing?!

Think about this!"

Well, who's saying that, actually?

Let's go down to the gene level.

When you go to the actual
gene level, what do you see?

You see the gene sitting there.
Nothing's going on with the gene.

The gene's just sitting there
with lots of potential.

Little histones hang around,
they're little proteins,

and they basically monitor
what's going on.

They play with the volume
on this whole thing.

And they basically, "What are you doing?!
You're eating a what?!

That's a Ho-Ho!

That's not food.
That's a science fair project!

(Laughter)

I can't believe you just
put that in your mouth!

Okay, fine! Suffer!"

And then, all of the sudden,

the speech to the rest
of the body from that gene

is "Erode immune function."

Here come some allergens.
It's just a mess.

(Gasp)

"She ate an apple! Yay!"

And the histones
are all having little orgasms.

And they're all happy and everything.

And then they, "Whoa! ..."

And then you augment immune function.

You rock and roll.

You fill your body with phytonutrients.

Isn't that the way to go?

What if you were born
with the addictive gene?

You can dampen it; you can quiet it

by every mouthful that you take,

every step that you take
with physical movement, for instance.

And also, please, whatever you do,
don't forget the brain.

Every thought you have.

Right now, every single one of you,

I'm here as a physician
to save your lives.

Don't you just love that?

I love saying that.

Makes me feel so - well, anyway.

I digress.

So what I'd like you to do right now
is I want to save your life a little bit.

I want you to turn
to the person next to you,

and I want you to say, "You are so cool!"
and give them a high five, right now.

(Audience responds)

Alright!

Okay, we're done.

Now, in those few seconds,
while you were high-fiving somebody -

get your hands off her! -

(Laughter)

what you were doing
was actually changing gene expression.

Because you see you laughing right now?
I'm helping save your life. Why?

Research shows that you have a choice:

You can either laugh or be in despair.

You cannot do both at the same time,

because the brain doesn't work that way.

So I'm keeping you over here
instead of over there.

Are you enjoying yourselves?

Wonderful. I'm thrilled.

Okay.

(Laughter)

Now, just want to drill it home again.

DNA is not destiny.

This is brand new!

This is so exciting and so empowering!

It's kind of scary too, isn't it?

Because when you think about it,
every single thought, every mouthful,

every single movement that you take
changes gene expression.

Remember those histones -

they're scoping you right now -

alters your destiny

and transforms the mind-body.

What's not to love?

So, instead of "You are what you eat,"

you are what your parents ate?

Well, that's what this research showed.

So, hmm, wait a minute now,

in my journey, I had
to think about this for a second.

No comment about the hair.

(Laughter)

I was helpless.

(Laughter)

Now, there's my mom and my dad.

The good news is they ate well.

So I'm looking pretty good
in the neighborhood, right?

What if they didn't?
What if they were, like, trash eaters?

I mean, you know, welcome to America.

So here's the deal:

What if they were eating not so well?

A lot of science fair projects.

Hmmm.

Am I still okay? Yeah. You know why?

Epigenetics works that way too.

Here's the way it works.

Remember this.

Genetics may load the gun,
but epigenetics pulls the trigger.

Ahhh. I see you're all going, Whew!

Wow, you can put the Prozac away;
you're feeling better.

It's good. It's good.

So, I Iucked out.
My parents were pretty cool.

Alright?

I'm looking good.

And then all of the sudden,
just when I was sitting back,

thinking, "Yeah,
this is feeling real good,"

new research showed up:

You are what your grandparents ate?!

Are you kidding me?!

That's two generations.

Look, this is a hero's journey already.

I'm working as hard as I can;
I'm trying to do this right.

What?! Two generations?!
You're killing me here.

So I started thinking
about this for a second.

I know the grandparents
on my mom's side.

They're okay; they're exonerated.

Ate okay. Musicians. Joyful.
Really nice people. Whatever.

Didn't know my dad's side,

because they died early.

And I was wondering, Wow,
who are these people and what goes on?

So this is Grandpa Raymond.

Right?

And this is my grandmother
on that side, my father's side.

And that is Grandma Mollnar.

Hmmm. Elizabeth Mollnar.

What were you cooking? How did you eat?

I started getting a little paranoid.

Why? Because the new science,
on top of the Agouti mice,

there was something
incredible that came down

that you need to understand.

You know, we look at nature
and nurture intertwined.

A number of studies
showed something really mind-blowing

that I want to share with you.

And that is, the Swedes
were the lead-off on this.

The Swedes love to count
demographics and numbers.

Indeed, they collected some of the most
incredible data I've ever seen.

And this is in the mid-1880s.

There's a wonderful
little place called Överkalix.

And in this place -
it's fairly remote in Sweden -

they either had feast or famine.

And after looking at multiple generations,
guess what they found.

That if you were the child
and the grandchild

of someone who had been in famine,
you actually live longer.

Because what happens is your genes
kick in with survival, don't they?

All of the sudden, you just sort of
amp it up with the survival thing.

That's the good news.

The funky news is you also end up
having other issues like depression.

Right?

Well, what about if it was feast?

You're sitting around there going,
yeah, give me that remote.

And just letting in rip.

What happens with those?

You actually die earlier, all cause.

Hmmm, that's interesting.

What about the horrific issue
of World War II

with the Dutch Hongerwinter.

And what they did during that time was

there were little towns in the Netherlands
that were cut off, that were blockaded

during that terrible war.

And those people
were eating 580 calories a day.

22,000 people died.

What happened to their children
and their grandchildren?

They were all very
and significantly underweight

for at least two generations,

in addition to the psychological prodrom.

The industrial revolution.
Hmm, what's up with that?

A lot of plastics.

A lot of science fair projects.

What do you think that's done?

Hmmm. Could that have laid the groundwork
for a lot of the issues we see today?

Question mark.

The epigeneticists are hard at work.

And then finally,

the British Avon study of the mid-1990s.

Guess what they found.

And this was very important information.

When you had the feast or famine,

or when you had, in this case, smoking
among men, they looked at specifically.

And if the smoking started
between the ages of 9 and 12,

during the time when your epigenome
was most vulnerable, guess what happened.

Their sons became overweight and obese
and so did their grandchildren.

There's a crossover.

Wow.

Suddenly, I was thinking,
grandparents, grandparents. Huh.

I have to know more about this.

I really want to understand more about me.

What happened to that side of the family?

Because that was a big question mark.

So I scoped it out.

Guess what.

I'm the direct descendant of gypsies!

It's a trip!

We have all kinds of Hungarians
and gypsies and wild and crazy people

on that side of the family.

And that's what they ate.

What is that yellow stuff, anyway?

I wanted to understand
what kind of life they lived.

Well, as it turns out, it was a joyful,
wild and crazy life too.

Just different food.

I was kind of interested in that food.

Kind of paranoid.

Where were the greens
that I learned to love -

those little methyl donors?

Well, here's a recipe I found

for one of the soups
that my grandmother made.

You see where it says kale, right?

(Laughter)

I'm obsessed!

You noticed that.

Well, as it turns out,
for crying out loud,

you methylate not just with kale -

that's nothing more than a metaphor

for all the great things
you're going to be doing for your body,

epigenetically, with
the great thoughts that you had,

with movement that you have,

everything.

And with what you eat,
and that's all good stuff.

But I was still paranoid.

I was thinking, hmm, I wonder
what my genes look like.

And I don't mean Calvin Klein.

So, I went ahead and got a BodySync
data analysis, a DNA analysis.

Guess what I got.

A little swab just like
that CSI Miami thing on TV.

I went for the swab, sent it off,

and I sat around thinking, oh no.

And I looked at the whole host of genes.

I wanted to make sure
I was methylating optimally.

And so would you.

So, I looked at one particular gene,

especially - I really wanted
to hone in on this one.

Because this was a gene
that was really, really, really important

to be able to help take methyl donors
from folate, like from kale,

and to be able to do DNA repair.

With all the crazy things
I do all day long,

and you do all day long,

I wanted to repair my DNA optimally.

So, I looked at this one gene:

methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase.

That's the name of it.

Well, I'd never seen it in gene-speak.

Well, there it is.

(Laughter)

Okay.

I knew you'd get it immediately.

(Laughter)

I looked at it and I fell off my chair.

I said, I can't put that on a slide.

(Laughter)

It's the mother (ahem) gene.

(Laughter)

And in the case of Grandmother Mollnar,
it's a - put a G there -

it's a grandmother (ahem) gene.

So there it was.
It's an easy one to remember.

Lo and behold, my gene was normal.

There it is. I'm methylating like crazy.

I'm loving every single moment of this.

And I methylate
with everything: mind, body ...

mind, mouth and muscle.

All three of them.

So, I was feeling very, very good.

So, I'm going to gift you
with something special.

I promised you
that on this hero's journey,

you would be armed with something new.

Not just what you already know about:

get in there with perseverance
and will power and determination -

of course that's important.

But I want to give you epigene-speak.

So, you know,

getting your veggies.

Well, yeah, you already know all that.

But now when you
walk into a grocery store,

I want you to be highly enlightened.

I want you to walk up
to the produce section and say,

"I need to score some methyl donors."

(Laughter)

I want to be able to find
any way I possibly can

to be able to "do" my methyl donors.

And you keep saying to yourself,
"Everything I do"

from the moment you leave here,

what kind of thoughts are you having?

Positive thoughts?

Loving thoughts?

You're changing your very epigenome.

Positive thoughts. Loving thoughts.

What are you putting in your mouth?

Think about it. Be mindful.

What about that physical
movement of yours?

Do you actually assume the vertical?

I know it's radical,
but do you assume the vertical?

And move!

And rejoice that you can do that.

Ooh, I love that.

The same time, what are you hooked on?

What are your genes hooked on?

Right?

Are you into kicking the fix? Come on!
Who needs this nasty thing.

These tall things you spend
$12.50 for at the barista.

Ew!

Alright?

Sugary, fatty, salty, hyperpalatable.

It's just kicking in
with that food addiction, right?

No. Instead, come on ...

Do kale.

(Laughter)

So, DNA is not destiny!

It's not destiny at all!

You are!

You write the very script of your life!

Mind, mouth and muscle.

You're the ones doing it!

Just sitting here right now.

You're writing away.

Your histones are busily
monitoring everything in your life.

You love that.

At the same time, you treat yourself.

I always have a cupcake
in at least one slide.

There's always a little treat in there.

And you're also eating

and rejoicing with, ahh, whole foods!

Love it! Love it!

How about that physical activity?

We love that too.

How about mind-body activity?

How about those greens?

Ahh ...

my histones harken.

It's time to methylate.

(Laughter)

I wish you all a very green
hero's journey.

(Applause)